CASE STUDY

Planning for What Comes Next: BPM Helps a Family See the Full Picture 

August 20, 2026

Services: Family Office Services

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For 50 years, a privately held family enterprise has been the center of one family’s financial life. Built by a founding patriarch and grown into a nationwide business, the company’s golden anniversary marked more than a milestone. It marked a transition.  

With the second generation preparing to take ownership, the family arrived at a moment that successful founding families often reach: the business had thrived, but the family’s personal financial infrastructure had not kept pace. There was no family office structure to speak of, no consolidated view of personal assets, and no roadmap for what the succession would mean for each member of the family as individuals. BPM was brought in to build that foundation. 

The Problem 

Outside the walls of the enterprise, the family was largely flying blind. There was no formal reporting on personal finances and no clear picture of collective net worth beyond what they knew the business was worth. The patriarch understood the succession plan and the buyout terms in broad strokes, but how that transition would affect each family member’s financial future was difficult to visualize. Goals existed; a structure to support them did not. 

The complexity extended across the family. Another of the second generation, not part of the succession plan, is married to a serial entrepreneur with multiple business entities accumulated over time. No one had visibility into the financial workings of those entities. There was no centralized reporting, no investment management relationship despite a highly concentrated position in the family enterprise, and no retirement planning in place for the next generation. 

The family’s estate plan had also fallen out of date. A youngest child had not been included in the existing documents.

The Solution

BPM’s Family Office Services group, led by Kris Marney and introduced to the family through a partner referral, started with the fundamentals. The team worked through the family office finances, cleaned up the books, opened new accounts where needed, and established monthly reporting so the family could see, for the first time, a complete and current picture of where they stood personally. 

To bring structure to a family with distinct financial lives across multiple branches, BPM implemented Sage Intacct as the family office platform. Each family member has their own login, permissions, and dashboard. The serial entrepreneur family can see all their entities in one place. The successor has dashboards that track the progression of the succession plan and how each milestone affects the personal balance sheet in real time. 

Once reporting was in place and the family had a shared financial picture to work from, BPM convened a family meeting to discuss goals. What emerged was a broader conversation about the future: a second home, retirement security, diversification away from a concentrated stock position, and the longer arc of the succession itself.  

BPM built a service plan around those goals. The firm’s Private Client Services group took on tax returns and tax planning, including gifting strategy for the succession and tax compliance across a growing portfolio of entities. BPM’s wealth management team developed a diversification plan to address the family’s concentrated position in the enterprise, as well as retirement planning for spouses. And given the family’s interest in real estate and their financial profile, BPM brought in a specialized real estate lending contact and is exploring potential opportunity zone strategies through the firm’s Real Estate Industry group. 

Estate plan gaps were identified and flagged for correction, ensuring the family’s documents reflect the family as it exists today.

The Outcome 

The family entered this engagement without a clear picture of their personal financial lives. They now have one. Every branch of the family has visibility into their assets and their financial trajectory. Monthly reporting has replaced uncertainty. 

More than the mechanics, the work gave the family something harder to quantify: a shared sense of direction. They know what they have, where they want to go, and what it will take to get there. The next gen stepping into ownership has a clear view of what that transition means for their balance sheet and future. The other members of the family have financial structures built around their individual lives and goals. 

BPM’s engagement with this family is ongoing. As the succession advances and the family’s circumstances evolve, the firm’s team will continue to serve as a steady partner through the full arc of the transition. 

Is Your Family Ready for What’s Next? 

Succession is one of the most consequential transitions a family enterprise will ever face. BPM’s team works with families of privately held companies to build the financial clarity, structure, and planning they need to navigate that transition with confidence.